US strike kills dozens at Yemen migrant detention center, Yemeni officials say
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(LONDON) — An American overnight airstrike in Yemen killed at least 68 people at a migrant detention center in the Saada Governorate, according to the country’s Civil Defense organization.
Another 47 people were injured in the strike in the city of Saada, in the northwest of the country, the Yemen Civil Defense said in a statement posted to Telegram on Monday morning.
The struck center housed around 100 African migrants, the Yemen Civil Defense said. There was no immediate U.S. comment on the strike.
A statement issued by the U.S. military’s Central Command before the alleged attack on the migrants’ center was reported said its “intense and sustained campaign” since March 15 has so far struck more than 800 targets and “killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials.”
President Donald Trump’s administration intensified the U.S. airstrike campaign against Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen from March 15, expanding a campaign that began under former President Joe Biden in response to Houthi attacks on commercial and military shipping and strikes on Israel.
The Houthis began their attacks in October 2023, in response to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 abducted.
Central Command said its strikes “have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks. Ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69%. Additionally, attacks from one way attack drones have decreased by 55%.”
“U.S. strikes destroyed the ability of Ras Isa Port to accept fuel which will begin to impact Houthi ability to not only conduct operations, but also to generate millions of dollars in revenue for their terror activities,” the statement read.
“Iran undoubtedly continues to provide support to the Houthis,” Central command continued. “The Houthis can only continue to attack our forces with the backing of the Iranian regime.”
“We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” the command said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ROME) — Pope Francis, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 12 years, died on Monday morning at the age of 88.
Francis’ life and time as pope, which was noted for humility and outreach efforts to people of disparate backgrounds and faiths, will be remembered during a funeral service taking place on Saturday, the Vatican said.
Here’s what to know about Francis’ funeral and how to tune in.
Where and when is Pope Francis’ funeral?
Pope Francis’ funeral will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern) and will be held in St. Peter’s Square or in the Basilica, depending on the weather, in Vatican City.
The pope’s body will be placed in a cypress-wood coffin before the funeral and then placed in two other coffins that fit inside one another, each made of different types of wood, at his burial site.
Where to watch the pope’s funeral There are several ways to watch Pope Francis’ funeral. ABC News Live coverage of the funeral will begin on Saturday at 3:30 a.m. ET and will air on ABC stations as well as streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Additionally, ABC News Digital will live blog the latest from the funeral as it happens and provide analysis and coverage of the biggest takeaways from the event.
Who will attend Pope Francis’ funeral?
As of Thursday, 130 foreign delegations have confirmed they are attending Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday morning, the Vatican press office said.
That number includes “approximately” 50 heads of state and 10 reigning sovereigns.
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prince William are among those expected to attend.
The funeral, known as Missa poenitentialis, is also attended by cardinals, clergy, representatives of world organizations and diplomats, along with huge crowds of the faithful.
Where will Pope Francis be buried?
After the funeral mass on Saturday, Francis will be buried outside the Vatican in St. Mary Major, a basilica in Rome. Francis will be the first pope in more than five centuries to be buried there.
(PAKISTAN) — India fired several missiles into Pakistan overnight on Tuesday, according to the Pakistani army, which said it has responded from the “air and ground.”
The attacks, labeled Operation Sindoor, targeted nine sites of “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Indian Defense Ministry.
The Pakistani army said India attacked Kotli, Muzaffaabad and Bahawalpur. Three people were killed and 12 injured, the Pakistani army said.
Following the strikes, the Indian army said, “Justice is served.”
India has blamed Pakistan for a deadly attack in the disputed Kashmir region that occurred in April. The militant attack, known as the Pahalgam incident, left 26 people dead in Indian-held Kashmir.
Pakistan said in late April it had credible evidence India intended to carry out military action against Pakistan in the coming days, according to Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
ABC News’ Habibullah Khan contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Security Service of Ukraine / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that Tuesday’s explosion at the Kerch Strait Bridge caused no damage, after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the structure.
“Well, there was an explosion, nothing was damaged, the bridge is working, the Kyiv regime continues its attempts to attack the objects of peaceful infrastructure,” Peskov said at a briefing. “The Russian side takes appropriate precautions.”
The SBU said it attacked the bridge — which links occupied Crimea to Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region and is a prominent symbol of Moscow’s control over the occupied peninsula — with underwater explosives early on Tuesday, in an operation that “lasted several months.”
The SBU claimed that the explosion “severely damaged” the “underwater supports of the piers.” The official account for the bridge said the structure was “temporarily closed” after the explosion.
Meanwhile, with U.S.-brokered Ukraine-Russia peace talks still floundering despite another round of negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top officials are applying more pressure on President Donald Trump to increase the cost of what they see as Russian obfuscation.
Trump returned to office in January having vowed to end the war in 24 hours. But months of failed talks — with Kyiv and Moscow clearly still far apart on their peace demands — has left the president and his administration publicly frustrated.
Trump has threatened both — Ukraine with the withdrawal of all aid and Russia with more sanctions — with punishment if his peace-making efforts fail. Both Ukraine and Russia have sought to frame the other as the main impediment to a peace deal.
Ukraine aligned itself with Trump’s May appeal for a full 30-day ceasefire, a proposal President Vladimir Putin has refused. In the weeks since, Zelenskyy has pushed Trump to meet Russia’s obstinance with sanctions.
Following Monday’s talks — which lasted just over an hour — Kyiv embarked on a renewed push.
“I want to thank all Americans, all Europeans who support this approach of pressuring Russia into peace — it is extremely important,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Tuesday night, following the latest round of deadly Russian drone and missile attacks on his country — and after two headline-grabbing attacks by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and the Kerch Strait Bridge.
“Putin does not change his behavior when he does not fear the consequences of his actions,” Zelenskyy added. “Russia must feel what war truly means. Russia must bear the losses from the war. They must really feel that continuing the war will have devastating consequences for them.”
The two sides did agree to further prisoner exchanges during the latest Istanbul talks. But both Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Andriy Yermak — the influential head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office — pushed back on the notion that the negotiations moved the needle toward a lasting ceasefire agreement.
Yermak said in a post to social media that he spoke with Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff about the talks, telling him, “Russia’s position remains unconstructive.”
“I emphasized that Russia is stalling and manipulating the negotiation process in an attempt to avoid American sanctions and has no genuine intention of ceasing hostilities,” Yermak said. “Only strong sanctions can compel Russia to engage in serious negotiations.
Sybiha said Russia “has not responded to our document outlining Ukraine’s vision for ending the war,” in a post on X summarizing Ukraine’s official conclusions from the second round of talks.
“Instead of responding to our constructive proposals in Istanbul, the Russian side passed a set of old ultimatums that do not move the situation any closer to true peace,” he said.
“This contradicts Russia’s previous promises, including to the United States, that it would put forward something realistic and doable this week in Istanbul,” Sybiha added, also calling for new U.S. sanctions on Moscow.
Trump is also facing pressure at home. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — long influential in advising the president’s foreign policy — is among those pushing a sanctions bill through the Senate that would slap 500% tariffs on any country that buys Moscow’s energy products.
On Sunday, following a visit to Kyiv with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Graham wrote on X, “Russia indiscriminately kills men, women and children. It’s time for the world to act decisively against Russia’s aggression by holding China and others accountable for buying cheap Russian oil that props up Putin’s war machine.”
The Kremlin urged patience. “It would be wrong to expect any immediate decisions or breakthroughs here,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday of the latest talks. “But work is ongoing. Certain agreements were reached in Istanbul, and they are important. Indeed, first and foremost, it is about people. These agreements will be implemented.”
But Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — gave a darker read on the negotiations. The talks, he wrote on Telegram, “are not meant to achieve a compromise peace based on some imaginary and unrealistic conditions invented by others, but rather to secure our swift victory and the complete destruction” of Zelenskyy’s government.
Meanwhile, the long-range strikes that have unsettled Trump continued. Ukraine’s air force reported 95 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, of which 61 were shot down or neutralized. Impacts were recorded in seven locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed seven Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy, Nataliia Popova and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
